Multiple Facebook posts are claiming that Senate President Vicente Sotto III warned that the government is on its way to a Constitutional crisis after the Supreme Court ruled with finality that Vice President Sara Duterte’s 2025 impeachment was unconstitutional. This is false.
Three posts, published separately between Feb. 4 and Feb. 7, carry similar captions and photos, with Sotto supposedly saying:
“Papunta na tayo sa constitutional crisis (We’re on our way to a constitutional crisis).”
There are no news reports, interviews or posts on Sotto’s official social media accounts or the Senate where he might have directly warned about a Constitutional crisis.
However, Sotto did tell reporters that the SC’s Jan. 29 ruling was a “clear encroachment” on the powers vested in the legislature.
It was Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua, who mentioned that a Constitutional crisis was possible if Congress and the Supreme Court failed to reach an agreement on Duterte’s junked impeachment case.
“Siguro pag nagmatigas kami magkakaroon tayo ng Constitutional crisis (Maybe if we insist on our stand, we would have a Constitutional crisis),” Chua said in a radio interview streamed on DWAR Abante Radyo on Jan. 31.
SC spokesperson Atty. Camille Ting announced on Jan. 29 that the High Court “denied with finality” the House of Representatives’ motion for reconsideration and reverse its earlier decision declaring Duterte’s fourth impeachment complaint unconstitutional.
In an FB post, Sotto described the ruling as judicial “overreach,” adding that the “Constitution had just been amended unconstitutionally.”
Two new separate impeachment complaints, similarly connected to alleged misuse of public funds, were filed against Duterte on Feb. 2 and a third one on Feb. 9.
The post by Checklist Studio page (created Dec. 21, 2019), Leo Lopez (Dec. 30, 2011), and Online Trending News page (created Oct. 2, 2014), has so far collectively garnered 9,500 reactions, 12,400 comments, and 820 shares.
